Free for All: 07/08/10

What’s on your mind?

Kos Rachets up the Rhetoric

Markos Moulitsas puts out another blog post on being banned from MSNBC and drags Keith Olbermann and Ed Schultz into it. This is getting ugly fast…

MSNBC tried to talk me out of going public with this, between Griffin and another exec. But here’s the thing — neither Keith Olbermann nor Ed Schultz reached out. That spoke volumes to me, since they have my number, and I’m sure Griffin would’ve loved for them to intervene. But they didn’t. What’s that tell me? That they’re fighting the good fight from the inside and have zero interest in doing Griffin’s dirty work for him. They won’t be able to comment on this for obvious reasons, but that doesn’t mean they’re not engaged.

In Depth: Nasr – Over-reaction or Not?

I’m still digesting the very quick firing of CNN’s Octavia Nasr. As I said earlier “I don’t know. Maybe she had to go.” Being the position she was in at CNN one could make the argument that CNN was compromised, at the very least in the short term, as all the outrage erupted. But was the damage irreparable? Think about this for a moment. This wasn’t just a newbie who went off the reservation in a fit of pique. This was a 20 year veteran of the network with a deep background in Mideast affairs.

Let me be clear about one thing. Nasr’s original tweet was criminally tone deaf. A veteran of Mideast affairs should have known better than put out a glib tweet like that which was tailor made for wild interpretation. Admired how? In what way? The possibilities are endless. Of course, most people logically jumped to the most obvious conclusion regardless of any other possible interpretations.

Here’s where things get complicated. Nasr clarified her comments to refer to why Fadlalah was in certain respects a maverick in the Hezbollah movement, particularly where women are concerned and taking a stand against Hezbollah’s allegiance to Iran. This is the sort of dry intellectual technical point analysis that’s the stuff of the Mideast wonk, which Nasr was. But it doesn’t play well outside that arena with a public who are either not well informed on the subject matter to understand or don’t care because the underlying issue for them is terrorism and that’s all that matters. It’s akin to trying to humanize some communist leader who probably did one or two things right for his country but at a cost that far outweighed whatever positives he had. Nobody cares about the positives. All they care about is the tyranny.

In Depth: Five Ways to Fix CNN?

Jay Rosen writes on Esquire.com about five ways to fix CNN. As with a lot of things Rosen writes about some have merit and some need more fleshing out. First of all I really wish Rosen and everyone else who writes about CNN would differentiate about what part of CNN they are talking about: Dayside or Primetime? The rules are different for each and what Rosen writes about fixing CNN is more applicable to one than the other.

1. Drop the chronic impartiality.

CNN is brain dead. They have worked themselves into an intellectual trap of having no particular point of view; they have convinced themselves that they can’t become right-wing like Fox or left-wing like MSNBC. As Jon Stewart demonstrated, CNN airs a dispute in which one side may be insane — the earth is flat — but the anchors fail to explain who is right. They need to cure this problem of “leaving it there,” because it’s killing them — it’s killing their brand, it’s killing trust, it’s lazy, it’s superficial, and it’s an audience loser.

Hang on…isn’t this supposed to the “fair and balanced” credo? We report, you decide? Present both sides and let the viewer make up their mind? Now this is suddenly a brand killer? Furthermore, who gets to decide what constitutes sanity and what doesn’t? If there is no set agreed upon standard then explaining “who is right” from an absolute sense is problematic. It then turns away from “who is right” to “who I say is right”. But that’s not necessarily right. And even O’Reilly lets the “loons” get in the last word even if he trounces them (or thinks he’s trounced them).

Anderson Cooper Returns to Haiti

CNN announced that Anderson Cooper is heading back to Haiti for the six month anniversary of the earthquake…

CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° returns to Haiti for the six month anniversary of the earthquake.

Anderson Cooper will be joined in Port Au Prince by senior medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta and correspondents Gary Tuchman and Ivan Watson.

On Monday, July 12 and Tuesday, July 13th, the CNN team will anchor and report live from Haiti and revisit some of the people they met in the aftermath of the devastating quake.

“Keeping them Honest”, Cooper will investigate why six months later, and after billions of dollars pledged, the people on the ground say they’re not seeing the money and the rebuilding effort is stalled. Gupta will report on a looming crisis in hospital services as the initial wave of medical volunteers and aid subsides, and also on the enduring psychological trauma of survivors.

Gary Tuchman will visit some of the orphans who were adopted in the United States, and will also introduce us to Haiti’s new orphans.

Ivan Watson returns to many of the places and events he covered in the hours and days after the quake and discovers how the World Cup taking place is in South Africa is bringing a glimmer of normality and hope to the soccer mad country.

Octavia Nasr out at CNN…

Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer reports that Octavia Nasr is leaving CNN as a result of her tweet controversy regarding Hezbollah’s spiritual leader. I don’t know. Maybe she had to go.

Markos Moulitsas “blacklisted” from MSNBC?

Oy…a boring day just got interesting…Markos Moulitsas blogs on Daily Kos about getting backlisted from MSNBC because of a twitter dustup he had with Joe Scarborough. This can’t please Keith Olbermann any. Kos includes an email from Phil Griffin in his post…

I’ve criticized Chris Matthews before, sometimes harshly, and it never led to me being banned. This was not about criticizing some random MSNBC host, but about criticizing the network’s token conservative, a man who wilts in the face of the awesome power of Twitter and its 140-character limit. Morning Joe happens to be Griffin’s pet project at MSNBC. He’s staked his career on it, and as such, lets Scarborough call the shots — to the point of having its least successful host dictate the guest list of its most successful one.

Look, it’s been good for Daily Kos to have me on, but it’s not my favorite medium, I’m often uncomfortable, and part of me would be grateful if I never had to do a TV spot again. I did as much MSNBC as I did because I like and respect Keith Olbermann and Ed Schultz. If they decided they didn’t want me on anymore, I’d be perfectly okay with that. However, I do think it’s noteworthy when I’ve been booted from the network because of a Scarborough temper tantrum.

Press Releases: 07/07/10

CNBC (2)

CNBC TO REVEAL ITS FOURTH ANNUAL LIST OF AMERICA’S TOP STATES FOR BUSINESS BEGINNING MONDAY, JULY 12TH

CNBC & CNBC.com Present Week-Long Coverage with CNBC Senior Correspondent Scott Cohn Revealing America’s Top 5 States for Business Throughout CNBC’s Business Day Programming and Online on Tuesday, July 13th

ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., July 7, 2010 ­– Where are the lowest taxes? Who’s top in tech? Which state has the best access to capital? It’s never been more important for America to get back to work. Find out which states are keeping the U.S. in business…

Starting Monday, July 12th through Friday, July 16th CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, will broadcast the results of its fourth annual list of America’s Top States for Business. The network will build a week-long special event around this CNBC exclusive study with the complete rankings being revealed, along with the winning state, on Tuesday, July 13th throughout the network’s Business Day programming. The complete rankings for all 50 states will be available on CNBC.com and include an in depth look at each of their respective rankings.

Contessa Brewer Interview

Part 3 of Contessa Brewer’s interview with TVNewser’s Kevin Allocca is up and this one concerns “social media” but the underlying issue here if interaction with members of the audience. In some respects part 3 is the most illuminating of the three segments for little nuances I picked up on. But I’m sure NewsBusters will find something it will want to take issue with…

Jenna Lee gets Happening Now…

Benzinga scoops that Jenna Lee will be getting Jane Skinner’s slot, something that should not come as a surprise to anyone. Even the ICN poll said as much…

Free for All: 07/07/10

What’s on your mind?

CNN’s Nasr “Clarifies” her Comments on Hezbollah Spiritual Leader…

CNN’s Octavia Nasr writes about her controversial tweet and all the ensuing fallout…(via Mediaite)

My tweet was short: “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.. One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot. #Lebanon”

Reaction to my tweet was immediate, overwhelming and a provides a good lesson on why 140 characters should not be used to comment on controversial or sensitive issues, especially those dealing with the Middle East.

It was an error of judgment for me to write such a simplistic comment and I’m sorry because it conveyed that I supported Fadlallah’s life’s work. That’s not the case at all.

Here’s what I should have conveyed more fully:

I used the words “respect” and “sad” because to me as a Middle Eastern woman, Fadlallah took a contrarian and pioneering stand among Shia clerics on woman’s rights. He called for the abolition of the tribal system of “honor killing.” He called the practice primitive and non-productive. He warned Muslim men that abuse of women was against Islam.

Update: Mediaite’s Steve Krakauer has a statement from the network on this matter…

It was an error of judgment for Octavia Nasr to write such a simplistic tweet about the death of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah. In a statement posted at CNN.com (http://bit.ly/adrp95) Octavia has clarified what she meant. CNN regrets any offense her Twitter message caused. It did not meet CNN’s editorial standards. This is a serious matter and will be dealt with accordingly.

Contessa Brewer Interview Part 2…

TVNewser posts part 2 of its interview with MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer. She addresses the Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton incident, which I’ve felt she got something of a raw deal on considering Jackson has been back with her numerous times since then and if anyone had reason to throw her under the bus it would be him. Given that, everyone else’s carping on the subject seemed too over the top for me to give it a lot of credibility.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center Denounces CNN’s Nasr Over Tweet…

The Simon Wiesenthal Center has denounced CNN’s Octavia Nasr for a tweet she made concerning the death of Hamas’ Hezbollah’s spiritual leader. This is not going to go away quickly and CNN will be forced sooner or later to address this…

The Simon Wiesenthal Center denounced Octavia Nasr, CNN Editor for Mideast Affairs, for glorifying the recently deceased Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah, an international ‘godfather’ of terrorism by stating in her twitter feed, “Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammas Hussein Fadallah… One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect alot… ” and called on CNN to repudiate her remarks. “Ms. Nasr should apologize to all victims of Hezbollah terrorism whose loved ones don’t share her sadness over the passing of one of Hezbollah’s giants – Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier and Abraham Cooper, Founder and Dean and Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (respectively), adding, “We call on CNN to formally repudiate her remarks.”

Tom Sullivan to Host Weekend FBN Show…

StreetInsider.com reports that Tom Sullivan will be hosting a one hour weekend show on FBN…(via J$)

The show, called The Tom Sullivan Show, will premiere on Saturday at 7pm ET with a guest lineup that will include former FEMA Director Michael Brown, Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle, amongst others.

Kurtz vs. Gavin: Analysis…

In a must read, Mediaite’s Rachel Sklar looks at the Howard Kurtz/Patrick Gavin dust-up…

I would have thought it was weird to respond so fully to Gavin’s column anyway, given the response Kurtz and Bettag had given in print, and the reasonableness of it, and, going back to Point #1, given that the story actually showcased Reliable Sources as pretty diverse (never mind that it was data-based – as in, the Top 20 over a decade). But my mouth dropped open when I saw (actually read, in the HuffPo exclusive that CNN apparently sent out before the show) that Kurtz had “outed” Gavin for having “repeatedly asked and cajoled” to come on the show — then reading from a private email Gavin sent!

Two things here. First, my mind instantly flitted back to last week, and the protectiveness Kurtz seemed to have for the “unspoken agreement” of keeping “embarrassing” stuff off the record, vis a vis Michael Hastings and Lara Logan. There are differences here, sure — last week Kurtz was asking questions, not making statements (albeit leading ones that established the direction of the interview); also, we’ve seen no indication that Gavin and Kurtz spent a month together in the pressure-cooker crucible of Afghanistan. Still, Kurtz’s own column this week suggests that casual emails being fair game is at the very least an eyebrow raise. Even assuming that such an email was not explicitly off the record, its use should at least have a legitimate journalistic purpose if you’re going to use it — shouldn’t it? Unless of course we want our discourse to be “pathologically cautious and mind-numbingly banal.”

The Hazards of Live TV: #25,064

“mike production”?

Free for All: 07/06/10

What’s on your mind?

Open Mouth, Insert Foot?

NewsBusters’ Jeff Poor writes about a tweet Octavia Nasr, CNN’s Senior Editor of Mideast Affairs, made yesterday…

In a July 4 post on her Twitter account, Nasr openly admitted to mourning the loss of Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah:

Sad to hear of the passing of Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah.. One of Hezbollah’s giants I respect a lot.. #Lebanon

According to a July 2 Associated Press story, Fadlallah is “considered by many to be the unofficial spiritual leader of Hezbollah,” even though both he and Hezbollah deny that claim.

Winner Takes All…or Not?

TV by The Numbers put up an interesting blog post today on the subject of the importance of TV ratings…

When and why, if ever, is it preferable for your business to finish ahead of the competition with a lower rating for your network, than to finish behind the competition, but with a higher rating for your network? (i.e. when is it better to “win” with a 1.0 rating, than “lose” with a 1.1 rating)

I would rephrase the question thusly: Is it acceptable to finish second or third in the ratings, period? In the cable news world one could make such an argument. It all depends on the branding strength of the program and the channel. You can have low ratings but if your brand caters to a high income demographic with lucrative advertisers, being first isn’t the imperative one might think, at least in the short to medium range term. Long term, it can become more of an issue especially if the media writers start piling on about how low your ratings are because that can affect the public’s perceptions and that in turn undermines the branding irrespective of the quality of your programming.

Update: Mediaties Steve Krakauer and TVNewser’s Alex Weprin weigh in…

NBC Nightly News and Meet the Press to air on CNBC in Europe, Africa, Middle East…

News on News reports that CNBC will begin re-aring NBC Nightly News and Meet the Press in areas of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East…

CNBC has announced that NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams and Meet the Press will start to air exclusively on the channel in Europe, the Middle East and Africa from 12th July.

CNBC will air NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams at 23.30 UK time (00.30 CET), Monday to Fridays, from 12th July and Meet the Press from 18th July at 22.00 UK times (23.00 CET) on Sundays.

Contessa Brewer Interview…

TVNewser’s Kevin Allocca interviews Contessa Brewer in part 1 of a three part interview. Best part of the interview for me was Brewer talking about the audition process for MSNBC which isn’t something that one usually hears about. Did you know that Heidi Collins auditioned with MSNBC before she landed at CNN?

Thumbs down for TVNewser editing down the Part 1 interview. Just what did you cut out?

Update: NewsBusters’ Kyle Drennen is all over this interview with a predictable response…

What’s Hot/What’s Not: 07/04/10

What’s Hot:

Larry King gives up 9pm ET – It had to happen so that wasn’t so newsy. How it happened is very newsy and I don’t think we’ve heard the last on this…

Piers Morgan – Like a boomerang, no matter how hard CNN tries to make this go away it keeps coming back…

What’s Not:

Damage Control please report to the Damage Control Department for repairs – In what’s quickly shaping up to be the #2 most bungled handling of a transition in TV this year behind NBC’s howler of an attempt at a smooth transition with Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien, CNN’s mishandling of Larry King’s departure and the persistent stories swirling around Piers Morgan has been appallingly bad from the start. How many times has CNN tried to shoot the Piers Morgan story down now? Three times? More? Each time some new nugget of information comes out sending the network back into scramble mode yet again. I’m trying to come up with scenarios where CNN could wind up looking more feckless than it already does in its handling of this story but I’m hard pressed to think of any.

What’s ironic about all this is the conventional wisdom is King’s day was done years ago and there were any number of media writers out there, myself included, who wouldn’t have bat an eye if CNN had publicly sent King packing. We would have very likely said, “It had to be done. CNN made the right call.” Instead, by trying to go for the “graceful exit” strategy just for appearances sake, which nobody really buys (and those recurring Piers Morgan stories don’t help any), those very media writers who would have been on CNN’s side are now privately throwing darts at the network for its “air ball” of a response on what was essentially a layup. CNN could have had the writers publicly on its side if it had been up front with its intentions. Instead it has the writers privately chortling at its ineptitude. Chaos News Network indeed.

Howard Kurtz vs. Patrick Gavin…

Well this is an odd sight on a July 4th weekend. Howard Kurtz went after Politico’s Patrick Gavin after Gavin made some observations about Kurtz’s Reliable Sources. The Huffington Post’s Danny Shea has a full round-up including reaction from Gavin…

Shannon High out as EP of Dylan Ratigan’s Show…

Well this probably isn’t too big a surprise for anyone who’s been reading ICN and all the posts I’ve done on High since she arrived. TVNewser’s Chris Ariens scoops that High is being moved out as EP of Dylan Ratigan’s show and over to NBC’s Peacock Productions.

High’s time with Ratigan has been described by a source as “turbulent.” TVNewser hears a formal announcement is expected next week.

What’s Hot/What’s Not: Submissions…

Post your nominations for this week’s What’s Hot/What’s Not. I’ll post the finalists late Sunday night. Happy 4th of July everyone…

The Hazards of Live TV: #25,063

I hate shooting fish in a barrel type stories (a lie) and Courtney Friel is such an easy target (not a lie) but this one is just too good to ignore. Carp Diem writes about a segment Friel had a segment on Fox and Friends that didn’t come out looking too good for Friel…(via J$)

In her response to Aly, Courtney declared, “It seems like that. And, especially with sports fundraising, that’s like the worst thing to contribute to because Bob Hope, he has a golf tournament every year in Palm Springs, and last year they raised $1.6 million for charity but it cost five times that to run the event.”

Strangely, Aly did not appear to take notice of Courtney’s gaffe or, perchance, she hoped that the audience would ignore it, too. Rather, Aly replied, “Oh, my gosh!”

Indeed. On the eve of the Fourth of July weekend, the entertainment reporter of the armed forces “favorite” news channel does not seem to know that the most illustrious entertainer of America’s troops died almost seven year ago. Crazy!

Free for All: 07/02/10

What’s on your mind?

Chaos News Network?

Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman writes about CNN…

The Time Warner-owned network is stuck in a death match with MSNBC for the No. 2 position in the cable news ratings. Meanwhile, the Fox News Channel, the longtime pacesetter, looks somewhat like Secretariat lapping the field at the Belmont Stakes, when it comes to the ratings. (Fox, like MarketWatch, is owned by News Corp.)

Clearly there is a lot of pressure on Klein, who calls the shots for CNN’s U.S. news operations, to make tough decisions these days.

Can Klein — or anyone — ease the turmoil at Chaos News Network?

Let’s hope so. It’s no fun writing a column like this one, about the decline and potential demise of a once-great brand. Today, I have a few friends who work for CNN and I feel a little sorry for them because they give a damn about the network’s past, present and future.

Bloomberg’s Inside Track Live from Aspen Next Week…

Bloomberg TV announced that “InsideTrack” with Erik Schatzker will be covering the 2010 Aspen Ideas Festival live next week…

BLOOMBERG TELEVISION’S ‘INSIDETRACK’ PRESENTS LIVE FROM THE ASPEN IDEAS FESTIVAL

Tuesday July 6th through Friday July 9th, 2010, Bloomberg Television’s “InsideTrack” (6-8 AM/ET and 4-6 AM/MT), will present live coverage from the campus of the 2010 Aspen Ideas Festival in Aspen, CO.

Bloomberg Television anchor and “InsideTrack” host Erik Schatzker will be at the annual gathering for a series of high-profile interviews. The Aspen Ideas Festival brings together more than 250 leaders from the fields of arts, science, culture, technology, religion, philosophy, business, economic and politics.

Bloomberg Television will also air select panel discussions from the event, including a Friday (7/9) panel with Aspen Institute President and CEO Walter Isaacson and former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan.

Expected guests on “InsideTrack” include: